QUESTIONNAIRE FOR RESIDENTS SPRING 2021 Your opportunity to shape where you live A Neighbourhood Plan is a document that sets out planning policies which are written by the local community, rather than the Local Planning Authority. Sonning residents have an opportunity to shape our Parish and develop a sense of place that is unique and valuable. We have a rich historical past which we need to maintain and a wealth of natural environment to improve, as well as ensuring that any development is of the right type and in the right place. A Neighbourhood Plan will give us, the residents of Sonning, the best chance of ensuring that Sonning develops as we wish. This questionnaire was produced by a Steering Group comprised of members of Sonning Parish Council, the Sonning & Sonning Eye Society and other residents of Sonning. We have come together to draft the Sonning Neighbourhood Plan (SNP). Once adopted such a plan would have legal standing. It would be used by Wokingham Borough Council (WBC) to influence their decisions on future developments. Your responses to this questionnaire will ensure that the SNP reflects the concerns and aspirations of our community. The Sonning Neighbourhood Plan will: ◊ aim to protect the Parish and guide the growth and development of Sonning to 2036 and beyond; ◊ establish policies by which future planning applications will be guided; ◊ have legal weight in setting out what development is acceptable to us in Sonning. The SNP, in conjunction with the WBC Local Plan, will be used in determining planning applications in Sonning; ◊ entitle the Parish Council to receive 25% (rather than only 15%) of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) revenues from any new development taking place in Sonning. The SNP must envisage how the neighbourhood element of CIL should be allocated e.g. the provision, improvement, replacement, operation or maintenance of infrastructure or dealing with other demands a new development may place on the community. It should only take about 20 minutes to complete the entire questionnaire but please don’t feel that you have to answer each and every question. Please feel free to leave any question blank if you can’t answer it, or if you’d prefer not to answer it. Every resident aged 16 and over is entitled to complete this questionnaire, not just one response per household. A digital version is available using the links below. The Deadline for completion of this questionnaire is: 10th May 2021 In the spirit of sustainability this questionnaire has been printed on recycled paper. To help us save paper and further printing costs, the questionnaire is also available as an interactive PDF form which you can complete and email back to us. The digital version can be found at: https://sonning.info/snp If you have any questions please contact your coordinator or email: [email protected] - 1 - Sonning NP QN1 Contents Section 1 About You ......................................................................... 3 2 Current Housing Need and Housing Development .......... 5 3 Local Environment ......................................................... 10 4 Social and Community Facilities .................................... 15 5 Local Facilities and Businesses ........................................ 18 6 The Sonning Conservation Area...................................... 20 7 Infrastructure, Travel and Transport ............................... 21 8 Allocation of CIL monies ................................................ 26 Definitions & Abbreviations Affordable Housing Housing for which the mortgage payments on the property should be more than would be paid in rent on council housing, but remain below market level. Affordable Rented Housing subject to rent controls that require a rent of no more than 80% of Housing the local market level. Brownfield Site Previously developed land that has the potential to be redeveloped. There are no such sites defined in Sonning Parish. Community This is the charge that developers are required to pay to the planning Infrastructure Levy (CIL) authority as a contribution to infrastructure development of the local area. Conservation Area The area of Sonning that has been designated as an area "of special architectural or historic interest, the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance”. Disability Under the Disability Discrimination Act, disability is defined as “a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on the ability to carry out normal day to day activities”. Greenfield Site A site, usually in a rural area, that has never had buildings on it. Infrastructure The basic physical structures and facilities needed for communities to operate effectively on a day to day basis e.g. roads, power supplies, communications etc. Local This term is used to indicate something within the Sonning Parish Boundary (see map on page 4). Parish A territorial boundary designation within a district. Parish Boundary See map on following page. Social Rented Housing A scheme to provide people with homes on a cheaper rent to privately rented housing and with long term tenancy to allow occupiers the opportunity to “put down their roots”. Sonning The legal document detailing our vision for the future of our village that Neighbourhood Plan has to be approved by the residents of Sonning before it can be adopted by (SNP) Wokingham Borough Council. Sonning Neighbourhood The area designated by Wokingham Borough Council for which the Plan Plan Designated Area will be made: the area designated by the Parish Boundary. SPC Sonning Parish Council Starter Home A new dwelling only available for purchase by first-time buyers and made available at a price at least 20% less than market value. Village Envelope The developed area which is usually not extended beyond, with a few exceptions. WBC Wokingham Borough Council Sonning NP QN1 - 2 - SONNING NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN QUESTIONNAIRE Please tick the appropriate box or answer in the space provided. When considering your response, please assume we’re in “normal” non-Covid times. There is a blank page at the end if you need additional room to answer a question or if you have any comments that you’d like to make. Questions where you need to pick only one answer will be round radio-buttons those that expect multiple selections will be square tick-boxes . Section 1. About You 1.1 Your age? 16 - 24 25-39 40-54 55-69 over 70 1.2 Do you have an illness or condition that is considered a Disability*? Yes No 1.3 How long have you lived in Sonning? Less than one year 1-5 years 6-10 years 11-20 years 21-40 years More than 40 years 1.4 Indicate the road (or the nearest road to) where you live. Bath Road Hawthorn Way Mustard Lane Sonning Lane Charvil Lane High Street Old Bath Road Sonning Meadows Duffield Road Holme Pk Farm Ln Paddick Close South Drive Garde Road Holmemoor Drive Parkway Drive Thames Street Glebe Gardens Little Glebe Pearson Road Warren Road Glebe Lane London Road Pound Lane West Drive What is your PostCode? 1.5 From the list below, what are the FOUR things that you most value about living in Sonning? Village community in which you feel at home Rural community surrounded by open spaces St Andrew’s Church and its activities Proximity to the River Thames and Thames Path Village school Pearson Hall and its activities Pubs and hotels Sports and leisure facilities Bus service Village shop Conservation area and its historical context Proximity to good transport links Other: 1.6 If you were to show a visitor the best thing about Sonning, what would that be? - 3 - Sonning NP QN1 Map of Sonning Parish The Sonning Neighbourhood Plan includes the entire Parish area Key This map has been prepared using data drawn from a number of publicly available resources. These include:- The Ordnance Survey Open Data Project, SNP Designated Area Ordnance Survey Explorer 1:25,000 series, Sheet 159, Wokingham and Pangbourne, Wokingham Borough Council (WBC) - Rights of Way Improvement Plan 2020-2030 Some of these resources may not be completely up to date, and are subject to revision by their Conservation Area authorsat any time. Additional information has also been provided by:- WBC and SPC This map is for information only and is not intended to replace any primary data held by the Ordnance Survey, the Land Registry, or WBCouncil Planning Department. Thanks are due to all those who assisted me in the preparation of this map. Bob Hulley, December MMXX Sonning NP QN1 - 4 - Section 2. Current Housing Need and Housing Development In this section we are asking you to suggest where you feel any new development should be located and what type it should be. The following information may provide useful context for some of your responses. Sonning has been identified as a “limited development location” in the draft WBC Local Plan Update (LPU), issued in January 2020. Several sites in Sonning were proposed to WBC as being suitable for development. These sites were opposed by Sonning Parish Council and the Sonning & Sonning Eye Society and only one was included in the resulting draft LPU - the site owned by Sonning Farm known as Bull Close, off Garde Road, which has the potential for 25 new dwellings. However because the proposal for Grazeley garden town had to be withdrawn (it would have encompassed the majority of development for the next 15 years), WBC is now reconsidering all the original ‘Promoted sites’ plus additional ones, a total of 10 sites. See detailed map on page 6. 2.1 What type of property do you currently occupy?